Google Search for desktop adds carousel for nearby places

Google's interactive carousel should be rolled out internationally soon

Google is rolling out a neat improvement to its search experience for desktop-based web browsers, which should make it easier for users to find a drink and a bite to eat wherever they roam.

The company is introducing a new 'interactive carousel' feature which will appear when users search for restaurants, bars and other public places.

Now, instead of the traditional results page when users first search for, for Mexican restaurants, for example, the carousel will appear at the top of the page featuring all of the relevant places within the vicinity.

The carousel begins with the place closest to the user, offers a photo of the venue, a price guide (represented by dollar signs) and also a rating from the number of Zagat reviews.

Clicking a restaurant then changes the rest of the results page, serving up contact details and even an interactive Google Maps page.

In apost on Google Plus the company explained: "Click on one of the places in the carousel to get more details on it, including its overall review-based score, address and photos. If you want to see more places, click the arrow at the right of the carousel. And you can zoom in on the map that appears below the carousel to restrict your search to only places in a specific area."

The feature has been available to limited numbers of iPad and Nexus tablet users, but today is the first time it's hit the desktop.

Sadly it's only being rolled out in the US at present, but we can't envision it being too long before the feature comes to Britain.